University of Louisiana at Lafayette Offers LGBT Minor
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette has announced it will offer a new minor in LGBT studies, making the school the first university in the state to offer an LGBT minor, ULL's student newspaper The Vermillion reports.
“It’s not only going to promote acceptance and tolerance on campus, but it’s also going to give students who are LGBT, questioning, or just looking for some sort of support the knowledge and comfort of knowing there are people on campus they can turn to if they need something,” Christina Newgebaver, assistant coordinator for the LGBT minor, told The Vermillion. “It will hopefully promote educated learning about LGBTs and not promote the stereotypes that are out there.”
The LGBT minor became available to students this past spring semester. According to sociology professor DeAnn Kalich, Ph.D., who led the initiative to create the minor, a UL campus-climate survey conducted a few years ago found some aspects of campus life were less LGBT-inclusive than the university might have hoped.
In a survey released to different colleges about inclusiveness of LGBT topics, an unknown department returned a survey form with the words "This is bull----!" written across the front. The survey committee also found prejudices in housing, particularly against transgender students, were predominant at the time.
http://www.advocate.com/society/education/2012/07/11/university-louisiana-lafayette-offers-lgbt-minor
